The Mt. Hunter fire, located just under 30 km east of Golden along Highway 1, is now being held, according to the BC Wildfire Dashboard.
The fire, which has been burning since Tuesday, July 20, was downgraded from ‘out of control’ today, after two weeks of no reported growth.
The fire currently measures about 445 hectares in size.
It joins two other fires in the Golden area, the Blackwater Ridge fire and Marion Lake fire, that have been downgraded from out of control. Those two fires are considered ‘under control’ by the BC Wildfire Service.
The Mt. Hunter blaze saw a planned ignition on July 30, with no significant growth taking place since then. Sections of the fire continued to smoulder post ignition, but the perimeter was held.
The Carrol Creek fire, located 50 km north of Golden, continues to burn out of control according to the dashboard. However, the fire has not seen any growth in the last week, and is currently at 457 hectares in size. The blaze was first reported on July 1, and has been a part of the modified response from the BC Wildfire Service.
Wet weather and colder temperatures have allowed many fires to be downgrade over the last week, with many fires in the Southeast Fire Center turning yellow for ‘being held’ from red ‘out of control’.
Cooler temperatures, scattered precipitation, and even some snow at higher elevations throughout the region have helped slow the growth of many of the Interior’s wildfires, and allowed crews to work on the construction of fire guards and mop up hotspots.
Because of the decreased fire activity, more than 650 properties in the TNRD have recently been downgraded from evacuation order to alert, including two on Woods Creek FSR near Barnes Lake, and 727 properties have been rescinded to all clear, including properties to the south and west of Kamloops near Cherry Creek. There are still 581 properties in the TNRD on evacuation order, and 3,288 on evacuation alert.
Temperatures are expected to remain low in the Golden area over the next 14 days, staying in the low-20s and high teens with precipitation to continue. Temperatures will return to seasonal in the interior over the next few days.
For more information and updates visit bcwildfire.ca. An interactive map of all active wildfires can be found here .
The fire reporting number is 1 800 663-5555 or *5555 from a cell phone.
~with files from Barbara Roden
